Anyway, Moon is right. Even if they don't really affect the magic, everyone is going to associate animals with the elements. You did it yourself inside the post, with air and the mongoose. Go to Comment

A bit short, and a bit too focuesed on Zun, rather than the entire five elemental system. I would have liked to have seen potential implements of ritual (canopic jars and mummified corpses for Egyptian-esque, or elaborate circles and pentacles for Hermetic). This makes it feel like any old rock would do fine for a sil spell. Go to Comment

I like this as well, and the part about blood added a nice flavour like the lifeforce in Kren magic. Details like that adds life to your post.
But it's still a little vague and thus the vote, I would like more on the entire five elemental systems as a whole.

Now that the using up of lifespan was mentioned, will not somebody with a shortened lifespan also age faster? (Like, you have halved your lifespan - you will become twice as old, or something to that effect). This doesn't have to be an immediate effect (but can be, if it was a particularly draining spellcasting), but would show eventually. Don't like 'just dropping dead'. :)

I would say such an unlucky soul would not die, but age surprisingly quickly, and the first disease or broken bone (yes, those will become frail, too) will take care of the matter. Go to Comment

The symbolism of the tarot has similar connections (though with four elemements, not five) and there are several paths that utilized the cards as both a foci for concentration and power (i.e. making a magical tool), as well as bound spell matrixes imbedded into them (i.e. magic items). Many western mystical traditions do pathwork (meditation and concentration energy work) based upon their card sets.

If you have played with a deck of cards, you have played with a sanitized false deck of tarot cards. Before the British and English printers got a hold of the cards (with their puritan and reformist views) which cleaned them up from their previous false deck (which were much closer to the older decks). Go to Comment

1) Is each card a concrete/ specific effect or a general effect. So is it a spark card or a tiny fire magic card?

1a) If they are concrete effects, I assume there are a dozen or so tiny level effects, eleven or so Re, eight or so ka, five or so Si, or three or so Tu, and so on. These would be the common and semi-common card. I assume there might be "rares" out there as well and your two highest levels are uniques.

1b) Is there any limit to the number of cards you can carry (since you are powering them) (Void cards might produce power that you can use for them).

2) Is each element in this system just the material element or are their psychological/ spiritual levels to each element? So air energy, in western hermetic tradition, includes thought/ mind, travel, and perception, abilities, in addition to motion of the wind and weather, as well as the generic dealing with elementals.

3) Do these cards summons? Please say no, otherwise they become anime card game cards.

What I would like to see, before I vote, is examples of these cards. I want to see what they are used for and a guideline for the each power level.

I really like it - I haven't come across anything similar before. I would imagine that there would be many card games could be played with fake sets of Kren (i.e. named and suited in the same way as real Kren but without magical powers). Go to Comment

At first, I was 'Oh crap, another Yu-Gi-Oh/Duel Master knock off' but once I got into the meat and potatoes of the submission, especially the five elements and the power scale being named instead of numbered, I was impressed.

I really enjoyed the consept of using your own, or stealing others lifeforce.
First I thought you were talking about hitpoint but taking off the lifespan is much cooler. The questions that popped up when reading this is pretty much asked in the above comments.